George Washington University Athletics
NCAA Tournament Second Round Friday Practice Day Quotes
3/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 17, 2006
GREENSBORO, NC - The George Washington University men's basketball team addressed the media Friday afternoon following its practice at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Colonials, who defeated UNC Wilimington, 88-85, in overtime in their first round game on Thursday, face No. 1 overall seed Duke on Saturday at approximately 1:10 p.m.
Below are excerpts from both GW and Duke's respective press conferences with each team's head coach and selected student-athletes.
NCAA Men's Basketball Division I First and Second Rounds
March 17, 2006
George Washington Coach and Player Quotes
GEORGE WASHINGTON SENIOR Pops Mensah-Bonsu
On matching up with Shelden Williams
MENSAH-BONSU: Our strategy is to make him work on both ends of the floor. We're going to have to attack him when he's on defense, and play physical on offense. It's going to be a tough job. He's one of the best big men in the country, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.
On their familiarity with Duke
MENSAH-BONSU: They're on TV an awful lot and it's kind of hard to miss a Duke game. We've seen them a lot of times. I've watched J.J. Redick; I've watched Shelden Williams play all year. They are definitely great players and I have seen them play many times. It's interesting that we're actually going to get to play a team we see on TV all of the time and it's going to be fun.
GEORGE WASHINGTON SENIOR Mike Hall
On pressing Duke
HALL: That's our style of play. I'm sure with the schedule they've played and everybody gunning for them, they've seen every junk defense possible. We're just going to stick to our style of play, which is pressing and running and trapping whenever possible, because we have the defense and we're able to do that without getting tired. Hopefully we'll have success.
On the lift Pops Mensah-Bonsu brings to the team
HALL: It's an added bonus to have that sense of security and knowing that, if you get beat on defense, you've got the big fellow there to help you. When our offense isn't flowing and we're not getting buckets on the perimeter, just throw it in to him and it's almost a guaranteed two.
On motivating the team during a timeout while trailing big to UNCW
HALL: Something inside of me just erupted, knowing that it could have been my last collegiate game and being on the verge of getting embarrassed and blown out on national TV with my family in the stands. Emotions came out of me and the guys just responded to it. That's just a testament to how mature of a basketball team we are.
On the team's defensive goals entering a basketball game
HALL: Deflections are a big thing, as well as forcing turnovers, points in transition, and points in the paint. Our main goal going into every game is defense and rebounding. If we do those two things, we usually come out on top.
On defending J.J. Redick
HALL: Omar (Williams) has got the assignment to start out on him. He's going to use his length and athleticism to make (Redick) take difficult shots. We also have four or five guys with the same body type that can switch out and guard him. I don't think they have played anyone thus far that can boast that and have that many interchangeable guys on their roster.
Me, Omar (Williams), Alex (Kireev), and Pops (Mensah-Bonsu) can all guard Shelden as well, so I guess we match up well against them.
GEORGE WASHINGTON SENIOR Omar Williams
On the Duke match-up
WILLIAMS: I'm sure there aren't many people out there that are picking us to win. We've been in this situation before in the past couple of years. We are coming into it with that underdog mentality, but at the same time, we expect to win this game like we do any other one.
On Duke's opening round game against Southern
WILLIAMS: I saw the tail end of it as (Duke) was starting to pull away. (The commentators) talked about how Duke didn't play their normal game. Everyone besides Shelden Williams and J.J. Redick pretty much played bad, so I'm sure the coaches got on them and they got on themselves. I'm sure they're going to come out and want to play better tomorrow. We're not expecting them to play a down game tomorrow. We're expecting them to play their best basketball, so we know we have to play ours.
GEORGE WASHINGTON HEAD COACH Karl Hobbs
On defending Duke's J.J. Redick
HOBBS: We're going to just try to play and do the things that we've done all year. We're not assigning one guy, because as you know, we run a lot of different presses. When we sprint out of our traps, several guys can end up on him.
On the return of Pops Mensah-Bonsu
HOBBS: You want to see him finish his senior season out on the court doing what he loves to do. I'm more happy about that than anything else, the fact that he's going to finish his last year at GW playing basketball, playing with his teammates, playing with his fellow seniors. That's the thing I'm most happy about.
On Duke's reputation
HOBBS: Every time they step on the basketball court, they can never, ever have a bad day because teams are really, really getting up for them. I just don't know any other program that's under such a tremendous amount of pressure every game. The way they respond to that pressure is just incredible.
They come out and play hard every single day. The thing I respect about them is the consistency of excellence of their program. That's something that I think we all strive for.
On the role of George Washington's seniors
HOBBS: I think a team becomes special when it can begin to faze the coach out, meaning that it starts to take over itself and it starts to make its own corrections without the coach. It's almost like true leadership to some degree, is when they're doing it (of) their own free will.
On Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski
HOBBS: I really believe that he is a champion of coaches. In these NCAA meetings, he comes and speaks out on a lot of different areas and topics.
On George Washington's underdog role
HOBBS: I don't know if it's fair or not fair, but I kind of like it. It sounds good. I don't know if it's fair or not, but let's go with that, it sounds good to me.
They believe in their minds and their hearts that if they play to their abilities, they have a chance, just as all of the other teams, to get to the Final Four.
On playing Duke in the second round
HOBBS: If you're going to go to the Final Four, win the Final Four, at some point you're going to have to play Duke. Hopefully they (GW) will enjoy tomorrow, hopefully they will have fun tomorrow, regardless of how the game plays out. Hopefully they'll have a memory they'll cherish for the rest of their lives, and they know they will have a coach that is very proud of them.
Duke Coach and Player Quotes
DUKE SENIOR SHELDEN WILLIAMS
On the GW frontcourt
WILLIAMS: They have a lot of guys with a lot of height. They have several guys that are 6-9 or better. The good thing is that I have been going against teams like that for a lot of this season, where they change up a lot of guys on me. So, I feel good about going against that tomorrow.
On the importance of production from other players
WILLIAMS: We both know that two guys (Redick and Williams) can't do this whole thing by ourselves. We know how important our teammates are in this run. We have to keep developing those guys and keep them involved in the system. Once we see ourselves doing that, we can see ourselves going further in this tournament.
DUKE SENIOR J.J. REDICK
On the late night last night and the 36-hour turnaround
REDICK: We didn't really get back that late last night. I think we got back around 1:30-ish, maybe 2 (a.m.). We got a bite to eat. We got to bed and could sleep in this morning, had brunch around 11:30. As far as rest in concerned, we're fine. I've already re-hydrated. We've been in this situation before. We learned from our return trip from Boston with a late Wednesday game and having to come back to play Florida State on Saturday. I think we will be prepared and the turnaround won't be an issue.
On the importance of production from other players
REDICK: Obviously, Shelden and I have to produce at a high level every game for us to be successful. For us, moving forward and playing a team like GW, we're going to need more guys to step up and play at a high level in addition to us playing at that high level. GW has been a team ranked in the Top 10 for most of the year, so this is a huge game.
On the development of McRoberts and Paulus
REDICK: We know with younger guys that they are going to go through their ups and downs. They've both been really good players for us all year. The only thing that we can tell them at this point is to move on to the next play. I think that is the most important thing. Last night, neither of them had their best game. But that is in the past and we need to concentrate on Saturday.
On scouting GW
REDICK: I've watched them a few times over the course of the year. I saw them play NC State and Xavier and I caught the end of their game with Charlotte at the end of the regular season. We've all watched film on them. To say that they remind me of anyone, they are really a very unique team. They are very big and athletic from positions 2 through 5. The guys they bring off the bench are really big, too. They have a lot of interchangeable parts, which is something a lot of teams that we've faced have not had. Taking care of the ball and our execution are going to be a big part of it.
They change their defense a lot. They run a couple different types of presses, run a little man, a little zone. So being alert as to what they are in is going to be big and taking care of the ball. We know they are going to try to put pressure on us and get us to turn the ball over, so they can get out into transition where they excel. Our assist-to-turnover ratio tomorrow can be a big thing.
DUKE HEAD COACH MIKE KRZYZEWSKI
On Greg Paulus' progress this year
KRZYZEWSKI: He's been terrific. He's been really good. At the ACC Tournament, he was almost flawless with the ball. I think he's had a great, steady progression. His body has changed tremendously from when he first came in; and he's really a good athlete and now he's in great condition. He's in better condition than he ever thought he'd be in his whole life. But he's still young, and he can get a little bit jittery. I thought he was a little bit nervous last night, and we didn't play as well together offensively, which I think hurts him, but he'll be fine. I'm good with him. I think he's been excellent, but he is a freshman.
Chris (Collins) works with our guards, but Wojo (Steve Wojciechowski) has talked to him a lot about leadership and defending the ball. Johnny (Dawkins) has spent a lot of time with him, with tape, working at developing, making him lower when he passes. As a quarterback, you stand tall to pass. As a point guard, you have a pivot foot. In football, you don't have a pivot foot; you're using it to follow through. Just the nuances of changing his physical traits to fit just basketball, I think Johnny would be the one primarily responsible for that.
On George Washington
KRZYZEWSKI: The very first thing is they know how to win. They have been the best record in Division I basketball. They believe they're going to win when they go out on the court. Any team that you play against that's good, and believes it's going to win, is going to be a tough opponent. They have depth and experience, and their unique style of play fits them so well because they have length and width. They play well side-to-side because of their athletic ability and their length. They have kids with long arms and quick feet, and that lends itself to a good press. They're a very good basketball team.
On the carry over from a team's performance from one game to the next
KRZYZEWSKI: The potential for it to carry over is there all the time. It's what coaches do with it. For us, we'd rather start out 0-0 with every game we play in the tournament, because that's what it is. The last game doesn't mean a thing. It just doesn't mean a thing. You're zero and zero, and then you've got to play that game. That's the beauty of the tournament. You have one pitch; you hit it or you miss it. If you hit it, you get to get another pitch. If you concentrate on the pitch you just hit or missed, you're in a lot of trouble. Concentrate on the pitch that's going to go on Saturday. That's the way I've tried to coach teams in this tournament. The finality of it, the abruptness of the result of the game, lends itself to exciting basketball, and you should crave that opportunity.
That's what I'm constantly trying to create for my team. Of all the teams that I've had, I always try to create that, where it's exciting to be in that moment. Forget the last moment.
